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Systemizing
The Systemizing Mechanism Let’s call the “Systemizing Mechanism” those parts of the brain that perceive patterns in changing information, which enables us to figure out how things work and predict the future. The Systemizing Mechanism varies in the population. It has been studied using questionnaires (the Systemizing Quotient or SQ) and tests that evaluate understanding of mechanics.13,245–247 Like the Empathizing Mechanism that we met in Chapter 2, we can glimpse that the Systemizing Mechanism has seven settings, a single mechanism tuned to different settings, from low to high People at Level 0 '''notice no patterns at all. They might notice that the church bells chimed, but they wouldn’t notice if they chimed in groups or be able to say how many bells there were. Their Systemizing Mechanism is tuned very low. Change just passes them by unanalyzed. Because they are hardly interested in systemizing, they can deal with lots of change. Things can happen unexpectedly, interruptions can occur, or they can switch to a new activity even though they were in the middle of a task, and it doesn’t bother them. They weren’t looking for patterns, so they can deal with change. People at '''Level 1 '''notice easy patterns, such as strongly rehearsed ones (like even or odd numbers, alphabetical filing systems, or people’s birthdays), but they find it almost impossible to figure out a novel system (like how to use a new appliance in the house). They avoid subjects like mathematics at school, not being able to see the patterns. People at '''Level 2 '''can see new patterns when they are pointed out to them, but it is a struggle, and they don’t see these for themselves. If asked to retrace how a pattern was found, they would not be able to do this on their own. For example, having bought a new cell phone, they might be able to follow how someone else manages to operate it but be unable to do so themselves. People at '''Level 3 '''can cope with simple, short systems, but they may find longer, more complex ones challenging, whereas people at '''Level 4 '''are quite adept at negotiating their way through systems. Without needing a manual, they will pick up a device and understand it, confidently and quickly, through trial and error. More women are at Level 3, and more men are at Level 4. In their everyday lives, at these levels people can still handle novelty, unpredictability, and other people, without a second thought. People whose Systemizing Mechanism is tuned at '''Level 5 are likely to be interested in patterns and want to look for them in their daily life and work. People at this level gravitate toward the sciences, math, music, technology, and other analytic fields (such linguistics, philosophy, or proofreading/copyediting) where searching for patterns is at the core. They try to create special environments (e.g., science labs) where they attempt to limit the amount of change so that they can analyze the effect of one variable at a time: removing one ''gene ''at a time ''from a mouse to see what happens or looking at a chart of profits ''one month at a time ''to see what happens. They like to do ''one thing at a time. ''But they are not systemizing all day long, so when they socialize, or when things don’t go as expected, they can deal with unsystematic environments. At Level 5 they like systems, so their lives are more orderly and routine, and they may even start each day by making a list of “things to do today” and work their way through it. But they can still handle the unexpected. Now we can get back to people with autism or Asperger Syndrome because, according to this account, they have their Systemizing Mechanism turned up ''all the way ''to the maximum ('Level 6''').245 What is life like at Level 6? Here we discover individuals who have to systemize ''every ''moment of their waking lives. The only information they are interested in is patterned, systemizable information. Repeating numbers. Repeating musical sequences. Repeating facts. Repeating movements and actions. THE SCIENCE OF EVIL ON EMPATHY AND THE ORIGINS OF CRUELTY Simon Baron-Cohen